Erstad reinjures bum foot

This is the kind of season it has been for the White Sox: It took all of two batters for center fielder Darin Erstad to reinjure the bum foot that had kept him out of action for nearly three weeks.

Erstad made a diving catch on a line drive off the bat of the Cubs’ Mike Fontenot during the first inning of Friday’s game at U.S. Cellular Field. Besides the out, Erstad got an early exit from the game for his troubles.

“You could tell in the first inning that some of the guys were like, ‘Dang,’ ” third base-man Josh Fields said. “Everyone was kind of waiting for him to come back, and it might be a spark to get some-thing going and get guys on base. But it didn’t happen.”

Erstad underwent an MRI as a precaution. Indications are the injury isn’t serious, and test results will be known today.

“I talked to (trainer Herm Schneider) and he said (Erstad) didn’t have any color, any inflammation, hopefully the MRI comes clean,” Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “(Erstad) told me he couldn’t go. He was the leadoff guy, I didn’t have time to talk to him after that. I told (Luis) Terrero to get loose and Hermie take care of the rest.”

Erstad was not available for comment afterward.

“Yeah,” Erstad had said only hours earlier, when asked whether his condition had im-proved. “Inside you know when you are able to help the team win, and I feel like I’ve got to that point. Now, it’s just a matter of going out there and playing.

“Running the bases, that was a big hurdle. In the outfield, being able to break and get to balls. You don’t want to be out there and have your range limited and hurt your pitchers. Those are just things inside like, ‘You know you can get to that ball in the gap, or if there’s a single, I can get to third from first.’ Just little things like that.”

With outfielder Scott Podsednik scheduled to return to active duty Monday night, there were hopes the Sox would be at full strength.

“That would be nice, yeah,” Erstad said. “It has been a grind. Guys have been working their tails off, trying to make do with what we got, and they’ve been doing a great job.

“It just hasn’t worked out. It’s not by lack of effort, that’s for sure. It’s been tough to watch because you are pulling for everyone and pulling for each other but there’s no explanation.

Said Guillen: “I think it is a help. We’ll be better than with what we have. Hopefully, (Erstad) can play the way he was playing before he got hurt. He’s always going to bring something good to the ballclub.

“Erstad is going to be the thing we need. Hopefully, he can stay healthy all year and help us to get better.

“Just (a) crazy year,” Guillen continuted of the injury-riddled Sox. “It’s crazy the way we get injured, crazy how, I don’t think we’ve had too many days where we put the complete lineup together, the one we had in plans.”

Contributing: Staff writer Nathaniel Whalen

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